Withered Flower
by Misfitable
Summary: The story of a girl left on the wayside: The flower that withered and died.


Together, they dream of fairies and ghosts, of dragons and goblins. Of witches and of wizards. Her dreams come true when her Hogwarts letter arrives in the mail, proclaiming that Lily Evans is a witch.

_Petunia looks for hers._

Lily stops dreaming of ghouls and flying horses and magical birds because her dreams, well, _they've come true._

_Petunia still dreams._

Lily comes home with a wand and a smile, almost spilling over with all that has happened over the course of a year. She describes in vivid detail Charms and Transfiguration

_Petunia wishes she had more to tell than Science and Arithmetic_.

Later, Petunia is forced to clean up her and Lily's adjoining rooms while their parents take _Lily dearest_ out to eat. She finds Lily's diary, full of secrets and at least two textbooks thick. She tries to open it, but she can't. It's locked tight. Magically. She also receives a sting from the cover. She runs to her room, crying.

_Petunia notices her own diary and its small lock and key opening._

Petunia goes to the grocery store with her sister and immediately spies the cute boy working at the register she's been trying to find the courage to talk to all month. Quickly, she finds the food needed and walks up to the counter, her sister in tow. She starts talking almost instantly, smiling and flipping her hair. Her sister stays in the background, smiling politely. Lily's not doing anything, so why do his eyes seem to be drawn to her, and not Petunia?

_Petunia looks in the mirror, wishing for the long, red hair, green eyes and porcelain skin of her sister_

Petunia's friends are over at her house, and they're making fun of her sister for going to boarding school. Doesn't she know that everyone these days goes to regular school? _Should she say something?_ But instead she just voices what she's wanted to scream to the heavens for years. Yes, her sister is a freak.

_Petunia feels so justified._

A year later, Lily brings home a bespectacled boy, with messy, jet black hair. He talks rather fast and can't seem to use a telly. _Another freak, then._ Lily tells their parents she's in love with the boy; that they're going to get married.

_Petunia knows that when her sister says 'I do,' Petunia will lose her forever._

Lily asks her to be Maid of Honor. Petunia replies with a not-so-polite no. She doesn't want anything to do with Lily or _that world._ Lily had had her chance to pick: Petunia or magic. It couldn't be both.

_Petunia wonders if things could have been different_

Petunia waits a year before purposely going out and finding someone normal and boring. Someone who could not deal with any 'magic' nonsense. When Vernon Dursley is told of what her sister is (long after the marriage, of course) he demands for his new family not to have any contact with _her crowd_ at all.

_Petunia's glad: she has an excuse._

Petunia is worried when Dudley is born. Will he have any magical powers? She runs through her memories for that time when Lil-_her sister_ started to show _freakiness._ She was about four or five, right?

_Petunia watches her son closely._

When Vernon asks for a second child, Petunia declines saying there will be a financial strain. Really though, it's out of the goodness of her own heart. She knows what it's like to have a sibling. And if Dudley doesn't show magical powers, maybe it _is_ always the youngest in the family. She doesn't know how these things work, and she's not going to risk it.

_Petunia prays that her son is all things normal._

Later that year, Petunia receives a letter and picture from her sister. It's delivered the muggle way, her sister says. _The normal way, actually._ Lily's just had a gorgeous baby boy, with her eyes and his father's hair. How's Petunia doing and shouldn't they really get together soon? Lots of Love, Lily.

_Petunia's never had more fun watching something burn._

Petunia lives life normally for a year, but even she can't miss the owls on the first of November. They remind her of a life she gave up. She ignores it, and keeps trying to feed Dudley the cereal. _Stubborn tyke._

_Petunia goes to sleep easily that night._

In the morning, she wakes up and remembers that she has to put out the milk bottles so someone can come and pick them. She puts on her slippers, rubs the sleep from her eyes, and walks down the stairs after checking in on Dudley. She grabs the bottles from the counter and slowly walks to the front door. Opening it up, she screams.

_Petunia almost drops the milk bottles on the little bundle of blankets._

The baby on the doorstep opens his eyes suddenly and screams too. Petunia quickly picks the child up, her motherly instincts coming into play. She looks at the baby. He stops crying, and his eyes stare up at her, with the trust only a baby could manage. She has seen those eyes before. She has stared into them for many years of her life. Why was Lily's baby on her doorstep? Then, she notices a letter clutched in the baby's fist. Fingers trembling, she opens the parchment paper up, and begins reading, the baby still clutched tightly to her chest. Her eyes jump from word to word quickly.

_Petunia leans against the wall, and cries silently._

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so yes. Yet another 'Petunia's feelings on her sister Lily' drabble. Kind of written on personal experience, but don't worry. My sister hasn't been accepted to Hogwarts yet. ^^" <strong>

**A little notes that should probably be at the beginning. The italics in the regular font paragraphs are Petunia's thoughts, and the one line italics is basically the simplified version. XD If that helps. At all. I know, confusing. But whatever. . And this is unbetaed, so if there's any gramatical errors be sure to let me know in a (hopefully) nice review. xD**

**Oh, and P.S. It's supposed to be repetitive with the whole Petunia _. I just thought it would sound better. ^^"**


End file.
